A ‘Project Vigilant’ operation held in Pembrokeshire has been hailed a success, with teams of police officers attending a street fight, ensuring the safety of potentially vulnerable women, and arresting a man for possession of class A drugs.

‘Project Vigilant’ is an operation that sees uniformed and plain clothes police officers act as disruption teams to prevent sexual and violent offences from taking place, and has recently been rolled out forcewide.

Officers in Pembrokeshire saw an opportunity to use Vigilant as a way of keeping people safe during a busy evening in Haverfordwest on Saturday, August 2.

Specially trained officers from CID and response teams, as well as neighbourhood policing and prevention colleagues patrolled the town as plain clothed and uniformed pairs, with information about suspicious or concerning behaviour passed between the two.

During the course of the evening, a large scale disorder was attended in Portfield Avenue, which had been reported by a number of people. Support was provided to local policing teams in dealing with a group of men fighting in the street, and a man was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

A driver was dealt with for driving without due care and attention after he was seen driving erratically in the town centre, while another man was issued with a section 59 notice for antisocial driving on Quay Street. This means if he is found to be driving in an anti-social manner again within 12 months, his vehicle can be seized.

Extensive patrols were carried out around the busy areas of the town centre, where door staff, members of the public and street pastors were engaged with.

Officers checked on the welfare of several potentially vulnerable women, this included two 18-year-olds who were found in the company of males in a secluded area. Officers ensured they were safe, explained the purpose of their work, and gave suitable safeguarding advice.

Elsewhere, a man was arrested for possession of a class A drug after the plain clothed team observed him acting suspiciously.

Detective Sergeant Vinny Barrett, who coordinated the operation, said: “The aim of Vigilant is to ensure the safety of people primarily on a night out, and to prevent sexual or serious offences from taking place. In this case we were looking out for all those out and about in Haverfordwest on a busy evening, and to make sure everyone could enjoy safely.

“Prevention is a hugely important part of policing, and by working in teams of officers who look out for and disrupt potential criminal behaviour we can really make a difference in stopping potential offences before they happen,” he added.

Chief Inspector Dominic Jones previously said about the Dyfed-Powys Police project: “There’s evidence to show that in cases where forces have deployed a greater number of uniformed officers to hotspot areas, perpetrators dispersed to other locations.

“The key here is in using plain clothed officers to spot the concerning behaviour and identify individuals to their colleagues who can step in.”